Meridian Napoli is the Director of Grants at the John Templeton Foundation. In this capacity she oversees the departmental efforts to have efficient and customer-oriented processes for the administration of the hundreds of charitable contributions made by the Foundation each year. Ms. Napoli ensures that the Foundation’s grantmaking follows industry best practices with an eye on risk management and maximizing technology. Under her stewardship, the Foundation will move towards an online proposal submission process and seek to increase the use of a proactive, competitive Request for Proposal process in grantmaking.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Napoli worked as a grants manager at Washington Mutual Bank in Seattle, Washington, for both their corporate giving and Foundation programs. She led efforts to implement policies including compliance with federal anti-terrorism measures and oversaw the day-to-day administration of thousands of grants totaling $50 million a year in charitable giving. While there, she received training in project management, process improvement methodology, and leadership training. Previously, she was the Director of Small Business Development at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce where she ran events and developed new programs serving more than 2,500 members.

Ms. Napoli graduated magna cum laude from Seattle University with a Master’s degree in Public Administration. With a lifelong passion for service, Ms. Napoli served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the grassroots nonprofit organization, Seattle Education Access, led workplace United Way volunteer and giving programs, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South Pacific island nation of Tonga, and completed two one-year terms with an AmeriCorps program in Maryland. Ms. Napoli is an active member of the Grants Managers Network and Delaware Valley Grantmakers.